by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s some news bits found whilst going through my email box this morning:

For what may be the closest thing you’re going to get to a new Bright Eyes album in the foreseeable future, Varèse Sarabande Records will release the Stuck in Love – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally May 28 and on CD and vinyl June 11, 2013.

Written and directed by Josh Boone, the film features an original score by Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott (of Bright Eyes), and new songs “At Your Door” (by Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott featuring Big Harp), “You Are Your Mother’s Child” (by Conor Oberst) and “Somersaults In Spring” (by Friends of Gemini: Corina Figueroa Escamilla, Nathaniel Walcott and Mike Mogis). The film, which IMDB lists as 2012 release but is slated for theaters June 13, 2013, stars Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, and Kristen Bell.

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Speaking of Oberst projects, Desaparecidos announced this morning that they will playing at The Waiting Room Oct. 22. Tix go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. for $25. The gig is part of a 12-date tour that starts Oct. 20 in Englewood, CO, and closes out Nov. 4 at The Fonda Theater in LA.

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You remember Alessi Laurent-Marke, don’t you? The super talented, super-cute Brit who once called Omaha home has a band that goes by the name Alessi’s Ark, and the video for that band’s first single, “Tin Smithing,” from their new album, The Still Life (Bella Union) just went online (embedded below). Alessi’s headed to these shores on tour, but so far, no Omaha date. We miss you Alessi!

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Omaha’s songwriter laureate Simon Joyner announced yesterday that he’s teaming up with Dennis Callaci of the band Refrigerator (and of the label Shrimper) for a new 11-track LP titled New Secrets. Backing the duo are members of Simon’s band The Ghosts as well as guest spots by Franklin Bruno (Human Hearts, Nothing Painted Blue) & Kevin Morby (Woods / The Babies). The new record hits the bins June 11 on Shrimper. Check out track “The Frayed End of the Rope,” below:

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And finally, eight years after its release, Saddle Creek Records announced today that I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning has been certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America.

“Measuring the value of art based on sales figures is a ridiculous idea; and clearly there is no direct correlation between album sales and quality,” said label chief Robb Nansel in this online message. “But every once in a while we get reminded of why we do what we do; that our efforts aren’t completely futile; and that music, as cliché as it may sound, can change the world. This feels like that type of moment.”

Congrats to Robb, Jason, Conor and everyone who took part in the making of that record. Soak in the achievement, because gold records for indie labels were extremely rare to begin with, and the way the industry has gone over the past decade, are destined to be a thing of the past.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A couple brief news items…

Yesterday Desaparecidos announced via twitter and on its website that they’ll be joining Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Alkaline Trio and a bunch of other bands at the Voodoo Arts and Music Festival in New Orleans Nov. 1. Ticket info here.

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If you didn’t get in on the early bird deal to buy Maha Music Festival tickets you’re out of luck. All the discount and bundle packages have already sold out. Man, that was fast. Advance general admission tickets are still available for $45 (It’s $55 DOS).

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The Thermals’ Saddle Creek Records debut, Desperate Ground, dropped today. Pitchfork, that all-knowing know-nothing arbiter of indie music taste posted its review of the record today as well, giving it a 5.0 rating (out of 10) — which is kinda/sorta not good. The review concludes:

“Perhaps the pileup of clichés and the numbed production is supposed to give Desperate Ground a meta context, that the endless body count has rendered Harris completely desensitized. But that’s a generous reading for an album that begins and ends with guns-blazin’ mission statements with plenty in between, so it’s more likely Desperate Ground is a failure to respond to the horror rather than an intention to reflect it.“

Ouch. By contrast, NME gave the album an 8.0 calling the it in its review “low-fi goodness.”

AllMusic.com gave the record a 4-out-of-5 star rating (here). While PopMatters also gave it an 8/10 rating.

What the f*** does Pitchfork know?

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Nice write-up in The New York Times on Desaparecidos’ concert at NYC’s Webster Hall Tuesday night. And by famed NYT critic Jon Pareles no less. There isn’t much actual “review” in the review as Pareles spent most of the write-up explaining who Desaparecidos is, but there was this bit of technicolor toward the end:

“Mr. Oberst is not, after many years as a bandleader, a guileless punk novice. He shouted his way through the songs and interspersed his between-song banter with four-letter words, because that’s what punk as a genre requires. Band members did as much headbanging as they could. (The audience did its part too, churning and moshing and crowd surfing.)”

If you’re wondering, NYT ”style” is to use courtesy titles on all references, which explains why Oberst is referred to as “Mr. Oberst,” unless Pareles knows something we don’t. Desa played their last show on this tour last night, again at Webster Hall, which means the boys should be back in town in time for…

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O’Leaver’s poster…

O’Leaver’s is celebrating its grand “re-opening” this weekend with three nights of music and booze that’s bound to get someone arrested.

The sched:

Friday, March 1 — Simon Joyner and the Ghosts, The So-So Sailors and McCarthy Trenching
Saturday, March 2 — Criteria and Noah’s Ark Was A Spaceship
Sunday, March 3 — Open at noon and special early performances by Ladyfinger and Rock Paper Dynamite at starting at  5 p.m.

“Sunday is just kind of a party during the day,” said one of O’Leaver’s proprietors, Matt Maginn. “(We) will probably have some of Craig Fort’s smoked meats and other snacks, and obviously drinks before the early show.”

Each show is $5, with the money going to the bands (of course).

Looking at their show calendar, O’Leaver’s is going to be jumping with a capital “J” over the coming weeks, which is good because lately there has been a severe drought in indie shows around here.

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In this week’s column, part 2 of “the house project” series. It’s in this week’s issue of The Reader, or you can read it online right here.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday everyone’s favorite blog about ’80s and ’90s college music culture, Slicing Up Eyeballs, reported here that Morrissey has rescheduled a leg of his U.S. Tour, including the show at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln, now slated for Tuesday, March 19. The Rococo website confirms the new schedule. Let’s see how long this one lasts until it’s rescheduled. BTW, this show has been sold out since last fall.

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Low has a new single available for free download from this Sub Pop Soundcloud page called “So Blue.” Listen to the stream below. The new album, The Invisible Way, produced by Jeff Tweedy, comes out March 19 on Sub Pop and is bound to be one of the year’s best.

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Speaking of free downloads, Desaparecidos’ single “Anonymous” is available for download at Mother Jones. Below is Desa covering Joyce Manor’s “Constant Headache” during their Allston, MA, show. Conor’s getting downright shaggy.

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Today is Johnny Cash’s birthday. If he was still alive he’d be 81 years old and very likely raising living hell.

To honor the Man in Black, the Barley Street Tavern is hosting a very special tribute night tonight featuring a bevy of local musicians including Josh Dunwoody (The Filter Kings); Mike Bechtel, Ira Hughey and Scott Norman (The Bishops); Stephanie Krysl and Travis Sing (The Electroliners); Jeremy Mercy and Vern Feregesen (Travelling Mercies); Matt Whipkey, Matt Cox, Scott Severin, Dane Sybrant (The Debts) and your master of ceremonies, Brad Hoshaw.

Cover is $5, but if you dress in black, you’re in for free! Show starts at 9.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday Desaparecidos announced a new two-song double-A single, “Anonymous” b/w “Left is Right.” You can listen to a stream of the songs below, then order your copy of the limited edition 7-inch from desaparecidosband.com. ($5 for the mp3, $10 for the vinyl). Brutal, anthemic rock, not sure I’d call it punk, though the themes touch on revolution, which is an old punk theme. “Anonymous,” the harder-edged of the two, reminded me of early Strike Anywhere, another band around at the time Desa first came on the scene. Check it out below.

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The press release announcing the new Liars video for “WIXIW” reminded me of a Netflix moment I had over the weekend. Going through the queue, I watched “Kill Your Idols,” a 2004 documentary that looks at the New York City No Wave movement of the ’70s and early ’80s and includes interviews with Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, DNA’s Arto Lindsay, Swans, Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth and others.

It then kind of compares it to the so-called NYC No Wave scene of 2004, with interview with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Dice and, to my surprise, Liars. There on the screen were Liars’ Pat Noecker (ex-Opium Taylor, These Are Powers, RAFT) and Ron Albertson (ex-Mercy Rule, Ron Wax), along with Aaron Hemphill and Angus Andrew. The film was made before Pat and Ron left the band under circumstances that are still unexplained (to me at least). Still, it’s interesting to see those two briefly talk about the band and moving from Lincoln to the big city. The film concludes with the older artists, including Lunch, lambasting the new kids on the block. Actually, I’m not quite sure who they were targeting. As a whole, the documentary kind of sucked… but worth it if you have Netflix and 90 minutes to kill…

Here’s that new Liars video. I lost interest in this band after Pat and Ron left and it turned into something else.

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Speaking of videos, here’s the new Love Drunk video of New Lungs performing “New Lungs” at the New BLK. New Lungs have a self-released EP coming out Feb. 9 called You’re Not Gonna Recognize Me that is being celebrated at a release show this Saturday at O’Leaver’s. Be there.

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This week’s column focuses on feedback I got from that gun control column I wrote a few weeks ago. One guy wasn’t too pleased, as you’ll read. It’s in this week’s issue of The Reader or online right here.

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At Slowdown Jr. tonight there’s a benefit for Gary Kurtz. I don’t know who Gary is, but he has some super-talented friends who will be performing to help raise money for his battle with cancer. Among them: The Brigadiers, Video Ranger and Gordon. $8, 7 p.m. start time. More info here.

There’s also a couple hot shows going on tonight in Benson.

Over at The Sydney John Klemmensen and the Party headline with The Love Technicians. Opening are performances by Reagan Roeder, Aly Peeler, Jeremy Mercy, Jon Jerry and John Larsen. 8:30 start time. No idea on cost.

Meanwhile, over at The Barley Street Tavern, Pleasure Adapter headlines with Millions of Boys and Dads. $5, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There’s a bit of Conor Oberst news bouncing around the internet.  Both SPIN and TwentFourBit have stories that include links to an unreleased Oberst song called “Night at Lake Unknown” (Do you think he was talking about Lake Manawa?). They also recap details about an upcoming Monsters of Folk film and music project that Jim James discussed on his Reddit AMA. Oberst made news last week with a massive Q&A at Drowned In Sound (right here) where he confirmed that we’ll be getting some new Desaparecidos material sometime in the future.  Desa plays Europe and stateside for nearly a month starting Feb. 7 in Dublin, right after Oberst finishes up some European solo dates.

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Check out The Faint performing “Agenda Suicide” and “Glass Danse” on Pitchfork.tv, below:

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The Waiting Room’s $3 showcase series continues tonight, this time sponsored by Boulevard Brewing Co. and featuring InDreama, Universe Contest and Arrows, which I’m told is a brand new Omaha band whose members include a recent Detroit transplant. Just $3 gets you in. Show starts at 9. Don’t let the snow, cold and wind slow you down.

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Tomorrow: Ladyfinger.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Desaparecidos this morning announced a 9-date East Coast tour in February. More details here. Tour opener Joyce Manor is a “Cali punk” band that played with Cursive this past fall at an NYC concert, according to this Brooklyn Vegan review. The other tour opener, States & Kingdoms, is a new band featuring members of Rival Schools, Thursday, Retisonic, Small Brown Bike, and Atlantic/Pacific.

Speaking of Desa, where’s my friggin’ 7-inch that I ordered last spring? GET WITH IT!

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Could someone (1% Productions, maybe) please figure out a way to get Low back to Omaha? It’s been awhile since their last headline show here (I’m not counting that Death Cab opening gig), and they’ve got a new album coming out on Sub Pop March 19 called The Invisible Way. The record was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Check out the “trailer” (and why all the sudden records are getting trailers?) below.

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Moments after posting yesterday about tonight’s free King Khan & BBQ Show / Digital Leather concert at The Slowdown I received a message from one of the bands that there will, indeed, be free booze available. Again, you have to RSVP at the Sailor Jerry’s website, here to get in. Not sure why, but that’s the dealio. Show starts at 9 and is 21+ only. See you there.

Those of you wondering what King Khan BBQ sounds like, here’s an ancient video for “Fish Fight”:

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer released this morning, Conor Oberst talked about writing solo material, the future of Desaparecidos and Bright Eyes.

On Desa: “They haven’t announced it yet, but we are going to do some more shows and put out more music next year.” With Obama winning the election, I can imagine the edge of the Desa knife slightly dulled. Had Romney won, I could see a very fierce future for the band, because there’s nothing like having an asshole in office to spur a punk message. Either way, it’ll be good to get some new Desa. Now if they could just get me that 7-inch single that I ordered last summer; its ship date has been postposted until mid-November.

On his solo work: “My main thing is just to keep writing. I’ve been doing some songwriting that’s for my own record, I suppose. That’ll happen next year, under my own name.”

But Oberst reiterated that Bright Eyes ain’t over. “No. I love playing with Mike and Nate. Hopefully, we’ll do that sometime in the near future. . . . They both worked on a movie called ‘Writers’ that I wrote a song for that will be out next year.”

Read the whole interview here.

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There was a nice feature on Icky Blossoms posted this morning in The Huffington Post. Curious quote: “It can get tricky knowing which band a song belongs to,” Pressnal — who is in five bands — said. Five bands? Let’s see, Tilly, Icky, Flowers… and then… what?

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In this week’s column, how we’re living in a culture where people say hello with a hug, and how I just don’t fit in. Read it in this week’s issue of The Reader, or online right here.

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Based on the last time he came through town, I’m not surprised that tonight’s Bruce Springsteen concert isn’t sold out. That show, in March 2008, sucked. S U C K E D. The review is online here. The only saving grace to having gone to that concert was being able to see Clarence Clemons perform before he died. What would be awesome: Instead of seeing Springsteen at the Century Link echo chamber from a mile away play three hours of redundant, boring songs, seeing him play in a much smaller venue and be forced to do a one-hour set — now that I’d pay big dollars to see.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Hospitality at Slowdown Jr., Oct. 3, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The presidential debate was still on the club’s big screen when I arrived at around 9:15. I guess it was the socially responsible thing to do, though there’s little doubt who most people performing on stage and in the audience will be voting for in November. About 20 people sat around and flipped through their smart phones, waiting for the debate to end, which it did at 9:30. Moments later, Teen walked on stage and said, “Hi, we’re Teen.”

The all-female 4-piece (guitar, bass, drums, keys) from Brooklyn, USA, plays a distinctly indie-style of VU-influenced rock that at times borders on shoegaze, though it’s not quite as droning and atonal as your run-o’-the-mill shoegaze (and ratchets up the tunefulness with strong vocal melodies from frontwoman Katherine Leiberson (ex-Here We Go Magic)). What it shares with shoegaze, however, is a knack for drawn-out cool sequences that repeat themselves, especially toward the tail-end of songs. It’s kind of jammy, though there’s no jamming going on, just tight, repeated riffs.

TEEN at Slowdown Jr., Oct. 3, 2012.

Hospitality’s set was plagued with a myriad of technical issues. Lead singer Amber Papini broke a guitar string on the first song, and then effectively cursed the rest of their set by saying, “I guess it’s bad luck.” Two songs later the input jack broke on the bass. Then the lead guitarist began having problem with his microphone. “That’s okay, I don’t sing much anyway,” he said.

Despite all these handicaps, the band roared through a fantastic set, raising the intensity of the songs on their debut album to an edgier, more angular level. Hospitality songs seem to come in two flavors — mild and wild. The mild stuff are straight-forward pop songs; but the wild stuff boils over on breakneck guitar riffs that are infectiously groovy. More “wild,” please. I planned on staying for only a few minutes of Hospitality but got drawn in well past my bedtime. Now all they need to do is capture the edge of their live show on their records.

Club note: Slowdown Jr. added a new velvet floor-to-ceiling side curtain to their small stage, cutting off the sight lines from stage left (toward the patio exit, the pool table, etc.). The curtain, which was being used to hide band gear, appears to be retractable. It’s an odd addition, though it does do a good job “framing” the stage…

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This week’s column is a look at the iPhone 5, or more accurately a look at why having an iPhone — or any smartphone — makes life a little easier for us loners. You can read it in this week’s issue of The Reader, or online right here.

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Tuesday night’s Desaparecidos performance on Last Call w/Carson Daly went online yesterday. You can view the clips via the links below:

“MariKKKopa”: http://videobam.com/pzUXf#.UG2xBL0i3fc.email

“Backsell”: http://videobam.com/DWJuU#.UG2xF16_T68.email

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They’re calling it “Occustock 2.” The event, hosted by Occupy Omaha tonight at Slowdown Jr., features Capgun Coup, Quantum Method and 3rd & Delaware as well as handful of comedians. Proceeds generated from the $10 tickets will go toward funding Occupy Omaha’s expenses, such as printing and supplies and food for Occupy Omaha’s food day, according to theslowdown.com. Show starts at 8 p.m.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I haven’t watched Last Call With Carson Daly in years. Seems like the last time I watched it, the 1/2-hour program sported a late-night chat show format. The new format is a collection of filmed segments, and is a vast improvement. It looks better, it’s better edited, and it takes the rather lifeless Daly out of embarrassing live interview situations.

All of this is an aside to the fact that Desaparecidos “performed” last night on Last Call, though it was really just a broadcast of the band’s recent gig at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. There they were on stage belting out their new 7-inch single, “MariKKKopa,” and its B-side, “Backsell.” Ol’ Carson didn’t bother to give the backstory behind the single, merely stating that Conor has been heralded as his generation’s Bob Dylan and that Desa was an Omaha “supergroup,” which was both accurate and amusing.

The performance itself, which has yet to be uploaded to Hulu, was your typical Desa frenzy and sounded quite good, though Conor’s voice was shot on “Backsell.”

I don’t remember Desa playing on a nationally televised late night TV show back in the band’s formative years. Again, it helps build the band’s momentum, but toward what, I do not know…

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Speaking of late-night chat show appearances, Morrissey is on Jimmy Fallon tonight.

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Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it’s Brooklyn indie band Hospitality. The band is on the road supporting its self-titled debut release, which came out this past January on Merge Records. Opening is fellow Brooklyn band TEEN. The all-female combo features Teeny Lieberson, formerly of Here We Go Magic. Their debut full length, In Limbo, was released last month by Carpark Records and is a keeper. $10, 9 p.m. See you there.

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